Baseboards

Photo: Thinkstock

1 of 5
Look Down...and Then Slightly Up
It happens all the time: Jill Sloane, executive vice president of Halstead Property's Westside Office in Manhattan, walks into a home that is beautifully decorated and looks magnificent at eye level—and the floors, she's delighted to see, have clearly been Swiffered—but the baseboards are covered in dust. Sloane says it's not just people who are shopping for homes who register this, but anyone who comes to your house: Little things can go a very long way toward making a buyer, a visitor or even yourself fall in love with a home. She uses a damp cloth on her own baseboards; you could also try a microfiber rag dipped in warm, soapy water and wrung almost dry. (And if they're scuffed, keep a touch-up kit handy so you can touch up scrapes as you clean.)